The Outlands
by jmoneybags
Summary: Civilization is in ashes; famine and loss has erupted an anarchistic society that follows the law of evolution, survival of the fittest. In an effort to bring order to the chaos across the once known country of Japan, two major military forces have instated their power, the Self Proclaimed UN Forces (SPF) and the Unified Settlements (UNS).
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I, Jmoneybags, do not own Evangelion, I do not profit from this, I do not want to get sued. The rights to Evangelion and its wide variety of fucked up characters and settings belong to Gainax, that being said, let's begin our tale.

**For the reader's sake:** Do not read this steaming pile of shit, I am fucking insane, I will fuck up your dreams and hopes with the keys under my fingertips, that being said, I hope you enjoy the story.

I should also note that this is actually rated MA for very descriptive sexual and violent content. I'm sure that'll just impulse more people to read it, I mean c'mon let's be honest; people mildly enjoy these themes.

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><p>[Present time, somewhere near Noda]<p>

Some things are meant to happen and despite the fact that he didn't truly believe in such things as the likes of destiny, he knew there were things people, being the mortals they are, couldn't run away from or hopefully ever control, death being one of these.

It was all the same to him however, he understood that while he possessed life at the moment, word that signifies the continued existence of his conscious mind, the day would very well come when he would be robbed of it, however, today was not that day.

"I'll ask one more time. Where's the stash?" a man one could categorize as a bandit dressed in torn and filthy clothes said menacingly as he waved his knife around in front of his captive.

This however just made the man bound by rope to the wooden chair chuckle before returning a deadly grin.

"You might want to put that away before someone gets hurt" the calm demeanor prisoner stated.

"Heh!" the bandit laughed at his tenacity "You've got some balls kid, most would've caved by now" he finished and drew the knife to the man's cheek to then slice it open making the tied up man wince at the pain.

"Not so tough now eh!?" the bandit said cheerfully as he pulled his knife back from the wound and wiped it clean of blood.

"When I get loose you'll be the first to die" the prisoner stated as his previous grin returned.

"Get loose?! Ha!" the man snorted out "I'm gonna' enjoy cutting you up boy" he finally managed to say as drew the distance between the knife and the prisoner's right hand.

"Ey!" a voice intervened from the top of the staircase that led out of the basement and into the first floor of the residence they currently occupied.

"What is it now!? I'm busy!" the bandit who was about to sever one of the prisoner's fingers said as he turned to face the stairway.

'Now's my only chance' the prisoner though as he prepared his strike on what had been one of his captors for the past few days.

"We need him alive!" the voice remarked.

"I know that! I ain't stupid!" he shouted back as he began to turn around.

He only got one quick glance at the prisoner before the unexpected head-butt sent him crashing backwards into a table covered in tools.

Having both his wrists tied up securely to the armrest's of the chair, and his heels properly secured as well to both the frontal legs of said chair, the prisoner scooted forward on the chair towards the endless supply of tools scattered on the floor with pace as the bandit continued to lay motionless on his backside.

Once there, in one swift motion he made the chair he was bound to flip on to one of its sides and tried grabbing one of the many sharp objects with the full extension of his fingers.

"What the hell is going on down there?!" the second voice blurted out again having heard the second loud crash coming from the basement.

'Shit! I need to move fast' the prisoner said internally as he finally managed to get ahold of a small pocket knife and began working on letting his left wrist finally loose from the tight rope that restrained it.

"Ey! I'm talking to you!" the voice said annoyingly as the wooden floor above the prisoner began to creak with every step the man approaching him made.

'Come on.. Come on..' he frantically thought as he kept cutting at the rope 'come on.. almost.. there!' he thought in relief as he proceeded to undo the rest of his restrains.

"What the hell happened!?" the second bandit who'd partaken in his torture said in disbelief as he found the prisoner desperately cutting the last of the ropes around his ankles.

"Ah shit!" the prisoner managed to hiss shortly before he rolled behind the unconscious bandit as the man at the edge of the staircase reached to his side for a revolver and began to fire mercilessly.

The sound of flesh being impacted by a barrage of bullets went on for a full 7 seconds before the sixth and final bullet left the chamber and the prisoner rolled out of his cover with a small glistening pocket knife.

He gave one quick glance at the former captive that had previously just lent his body as a meat shield and smirked.

'I told you, you'd be the first' he said haughtily in his mind before dashing forward in a blur of motion to confront the second bandit.

"You son of.. arghh-" were the last words the second bandit managed to say before his neck became a faucet of blood that he desperately tried closing.

The former prisoner took seat next to the collapsed man that was currently bleeding out and stared him down.

The life was slipping from the bandit's eyes, with each passing second he the color from his skin dissuaded while his movement became more and more sluggish.

"You know.." the prisoner began "there was a point in my life where I thought violence wasn't the answer" he stated as he reminisced of the old days.

"I can see now that I was right…" he looked down briefly to the knife in his hand "you see.." he now returned his gaze to the bandit and moved the knife over his torso "it's not the answer, but it's a hell of a lot easier, isn't it?" he finished as the knife he held pierced the man's chest which heaved up and down uncontrollably and then came to a stop.

"Now, where'd you idiots leave my equipment?" the man wondered audibly as he stood up and began to look for his belongings.

It took the former captive several minutes to gather his belongings along with some other things he could scavenge before was ready to leave the house he'd been held in as a prisoner for the last few days.

'Next stop, Tokyo-3 settlement' he said inwardly as he stepped out.

"Heh, I'll bet those fuckers will be thrilled to see me" he said sarcastically to himself as he began his journey.

* * *

><p>[Present time, Outlands]<p>

The night was setting over the barren dunes covered in red soil and the man decided to make tent near a busted down automobile near the road.

He lit up a fire and began to warm up one of the many canned food goods he'd taken from the bandits, it wasn't his preference but it would have to do for now, still, it hadn't always been like this.

He originally supposed that after all they'd been through, after the unifying experience that was instrumentality, people would've been glad to be back alive, as individuals, no more war, no more discrimination, it could finally be a fresh start for humanity, he'd been wrong, dead wrong.

People didn't enjoy the new world they'd been returned to, a world filled with sterile land and seas, where food was scarce and there was no order, where everything the human race had worked so hard on building was undone in a matter of seconds, it was second impact all over again, and in turn, most people chose an scapegoat, him, Shinji Ikari.

'Best not to dwell on the past' he reminded himself before he grabbed a spoon and commenced eating his dinner.

Once he was done eating his low class dinner he picked up a handful of dirt and threw it on the fire, as much as he would love to have the warmth it offered during the particularly cold nights, it could also attract more bandits or worse, U.N. troops, the latter being one of his prime pursuers for the past years.

He lied back on the side of the car and stared at the heavens, an infinite number of stars gazed down on him, all pulsating and for the most part bright, a reminder of how insignificant humans really were.

With an M16–Carbine in arms, a blanket over his torso and legs, and a starry sky blinking him to sleep, he felt for a brief second he wasn't in the outlands and his mind drifted off.

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><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>Well, I present the pilot chapter for the outlands. While I was planning to get more content into chapter 1, I figured best not as this chapter is more of a taste of what this series is about. I really like this after third impact concept so tell me what you guys think, I appreciate constructive criticism.


	2. Chapter 2

[Approximately 2 weeks ago, south sector of The Pan]

"I heard the self-proclaimed U.N. forces took over Tokyo-2 a few months ago" the scruffy looking older man in a leather jacket let out as he inhaled one of his cigars, his mostly grey brow frowning at the thought.

"It's not surprising, they've been targeting the major supply centers" the young blue eyed man stated as he took a sip of the whisky in front of him.

"Bastards.." the older looking man said with scorn as he exhaled a thick cloud of smoke.

"They want to control everything again, that means taking over the militarized cities and armaments" the young man indicated as his hand put down the glass of whiskey.

"So Tokyo-3's next.." the older man supposed as he scratched the back of his balding skull and sighed.

"No, I'm more inclined to think they're going after the remaining Nerv and JSDF bases in Japan" the young man replied and took another sip of his whiskey.

"This is a shit storm, someone needs to put a stop to them!" the older man blurted out and put the remaining butt of his cigar on the ashtray in front of him.

"Well, the U.N. wants me to rot in prison for causing this mess and the remaining unified settlements don't want anything to do with me, what am I supposed to do?" the young blue eyed man asked with a hint of frustration.

"How long have we known each other kid?" the older man questioned as he patted the younger one on the back.

"Since my exile five years ago" the younger man said softly and swallowed fully the remainder of the whisky.

"You need to stop blaming yourself kid, it's been six years" the older man said as he gave him a playful smack to the back of his head.

"Hard to forget when everyone keeps reminding you, but anyways, I'd rather not talk about that" the young man said dismissively and proposed a new topic "we all set for Matushiro?" he asked as he stood from the bar stool he'd been sitting at for the past hour and walked over to the entrance of the bar.

"Yeah, the truck's all set, the weapons loaded in, and I think Rika and Nao are out trading for supplies" the older man sighed and spoke as he too stood up and walked over to the door.

"Well then, we'd best get some sleep" the young man said lightly as he stepped out the bar and disappeared into the crowded streets of _the pan_, a makeshift city for commerce and outlaws near the once nuclear wasteland that was Tokyo; built entirely out of raw materials scavenged from said wasteland, the city looked like a refugee slum with shacks and poor edified constructions standing out over the barren redness.

* * *

><p>[Present time, Outlands]<p>

It was the dawns mist that awoke him, the bitter taste of iron making him frown in disgust as most of the spray was a variant of LCL with water, at least in this part of the outlands anyways.

He opened his eyes and took in the particularly bleak setting plastered across the sky as there were multiple forms of greyish clouds covering it; leaving only several streaks of light being able to seep through and reach the damned soil that covered the land.

'It's one of those days' he sighed as he heaved himself up from his previous resting spot.

In a matter of seconds he was all packed up again and set to leave, a dark blue plastic poncho covering the upmost part of his body in expectance of the coming rain and his map and compass in hand to correct course.

He carefully placed the map on the broken down vehicles trunk lid and began to estimate his whereabouts and situation.

"Let's see, I was just in Matsushiro two weeks ago..' he began to say as his finger outlined his trajectory "and I was near Noda when they found me" his finger now firmly over said city as he studied the map intently "so.. South-west it is then" he almost but whispered as he pocketed his map and compass.

He sighed yet again as he stared at the raging storm growing behind him in the distance and internally grimaced over the little supplies he possessed for the way back.

'Best get a move on, wouldn't want that thing to catch up to me sooner than it has to' he stated to himself internally as he ventured forward.

He continued walking in the vast emptiness of the red dunes for a fair amount of time, always looking behind him at the storm that drastically drew on him every minute when eventually, to his surprise; he stumbled upon the remnants of an asphalt road that upon checking on the map and estimating which one it was, would lead him to a nearby city named Yoshikawa, so without any hesitation he took to following it.

It was like that for various hours, however once the storm managed to reach him it became harder to follow the road and even walk as the red soiled ground was becoming a fluid red sludge that covered the majority of the road, all while the turbulent winds made it hard effort to walk without arching forward.

'Fuck! I'll wear myself out before I reach the city in these conditions! I need a shelter now!' he yelled at himself mentally as he looked around for any place he could cover under and as expected; he found nothing except the dampened red dunes that seemed more like a swamp now than anything else.

"Damn it!" he roared out as he continued struggling along what remained visible of the road's surface.

It was around a few minutes later he felt his legs commence to exhaust from the arduous work that was walking against the winds of the tempest; however it was also around this time he took note of a sign next to the road, and the building behind it, it was an old gas station.

Not thinking it twice, he hurried off to the entrance of the building and pulled out his Five-seven before entering it.

Lighting the flashlight on the side of his preferred pistol, he carefully managed his way around the fallen shelves and overall mess of the decaying building; as he finished clearing the main room he stood firmly behind the only visible door inside the gas station.

'I bet this is the supply room, I hope I find something good in here' he thought as a small smirk managed to crease its way onto his face.

With caution, he opened the door half way, a movement that resulted in a loud screech from the base of the door as it scraped the floor and almost instantly provoked a few rustling noises inside the room it previously sealed.

'Fuck there's someone here!' he realized as he gripped his weapon tightly, his index finger slowly caressing the trigger in preparation of a sudden attack.

"I know you're in there! I'm going to open the door! Don't do anything stupid!" he shouted inside the room as he began to push the door open again.

Silence followed after the door's final screech from opening it died down and affront of him was a darkened room filled with cardboard boxes and no visible person to the naked eye.

"What the-" he began to say but cut off as he heard another rustling sound coming from behind him this time.

He turned around rapidly and fixed his sights on the origin point of the noise, a slight relief over him as he stared down at the cause of it.

Standing there next to a fallen shelve was a mammoth looking rat that gave him a short glance before running off to another end of the room.

"Fucking rat almost gave me a heart attack" he said amusedly as he holstered his pistol back into the back of his pants.

He returned back to the supply room and found a large amount of unhindered supplies inside, it seemed the rat had been living off of that since the world had gone to hell.

'It's no wonder it's so fat, that rat eats better than most people' he thought as he searched through the each of the cardboard boxes.

After a few minutes of scavenging he took off the plastic drapes that wrapped him and sat down behind the counter of the store as opened one of the canned goods he'd taken from the boxes.

'Fucking canned food, figures it's the only thing I'd find here' he thought as he ate its cold and seemingly tasteless contents.

"Damn I miss the old days" he whispered to himself as he threw the empty can at the wall opposite to him and laid down on the floor whilst using his backpack as a pillow.

'It never does get easier..' he thought as he slowly closed his eyes shut.

"Six years… Six long years.." he said lowly before passing out of fatigue.

* * *

><p>[Approximately 16 months after Third Impact]<p>

"Nobody wants him here! Nobody!" the ginger man shouted at his fellow council members as he slammed his fist on the table they sat by.

"I agree, he's one of the main perpetrators of this catastrophe, he has to be punished accordingly!" the most elderly council member encouraged the claims.

"He's as much a victim as we are" the female council member with purple hair stated calmly.

"We all witnessed it firsthand council member Katsuragi and the fact remains that Shinji Ikari deliberately chose to initiate third impact" the eldest council member retorted.

"He's only a child!" the woman snapped at the elder council member as she found his accusations extremely erroneous.

"Child or adult, he's in part responsible for screwing this world up" the ginger man indicated and shook his head in disbelief.

"So what's your plan huh?! You going to execute a fourteen year old boy?!" she exclaimed furiously as she stood up from her seat.

"Nothing of the sort, but we simply cannot permit him to live here any longer" he sighed "I motion for an exile" the ginger man proposed as he looked around the table at the rest of the council members.

"He's just a child! How's he going to survive out there!? We can't do this!" the woman screamed out at the other council members.

"I'm sorry Katsuragi, but I second the vote for exile" the man in the far end of the table said as he lowered his gaze.

"As do I" the voice of the woman next to him blurted out.

"I also support the motion" said the elderly council member.

"You idiots, have you no idea what that child's gone through!" the woman burst out and walked away from the table.

Turning to look at each other after the council woman's sudden outburst, the elder council member announced "By majority of vote, Ikari Shinji is now banished from any and all unified settlements".

Streaks of white light filled the gas station's interior the next morning as the storm had finally blown over; across the marshy red dunes one could see the heat waves distorting the landscape and the hint of iron was accounted for in the air, which presented itself humid and warm to the skin.

* * *

><p>[Present time, Outlands]<p>

His eyes opened slowly to welcome the unfamiliar ceiling that stood firm atop of him, slowly adjusting to the light he observed the small cracks in the concrete as they let a few rogue beams of light pass through and illuminate some parts of the room.

'Another day, another struggle' he thought with a grin as he stood up and stretched.

'Better make use of the daylight, I need to cover as much ground as possible if I want to reach the settlement' he said internally as he began the routinely packing of his belongings and new found supplies.

It took the same amount of time it always did to revise his map and situation after he had packed up and eaten his breakfast, a few seconds, and then he was up and about on the road again.

He walked along the side of said road until finally, a little over an hour later, he reached the once known city of Yoshikawa, the streets were littered with garbage and across the road he was currently walking he could make out a few fresh corpses lying about in a puddle of blood.

"What the hell happened here?" he asked himself as he pulled up his M16-Carbine and scoped around the area.

There was nothing on his sights, a preoccupying fact considering that the three dead men could've been the work of a marksman with a vantage point.

'Better get off the streets for now' he said to himself as he stepped over to the sidewalk next to a two story building that directly over looked the street where the corpses laid.

He waited patiently for a few minutes as he decided what to do, however his suspicions of the unknown assailant came to fruition when several gunshots echoed through the small city, someone was having a firefight.

He stealthily made his way to the area the constant shots came from, which was one block away from the three bodies he'd found, and switched to his trusted side arm as he entered a crumbling three story building where he could hopefully get a good view of the concurring events.

As he reached the third and final floor he carefully peaked through a small window frame; by this time however, the gunshots had already died down and all that was left to be heard were the screams of a frantic woman being dragged by a member of the so called U.N. forces towards a group of other U.N. soldiers, soldiers who were openly aiming at several bound people that were kneeled in a line across from them, in other words, it was an execution.

'Not surprised, these U.N. pricks are notorious for this' he thought as he holstered his pistol and brought to arms the M16-Carbine he'd been carrying.

"Please no don't do this! Please I don't want to die!" he heard the woman cry in distress as the soldier began to tie her wrists and heels together.

"Shut up you filthy outlander! You think you can just leave your camp site?!" the soldier that had dragged her asked as he swung a punch at her gut and made her violently gasp for air.

'Rule number four of the outlands, if it's not your fight, don't get involved" he preached to himself internally to reconsider as he carefully aimed the scoped rifle.

"Please.. I'll go back! You don't have to kill me! Please I don-" her pleas became muffled as they put a rag inside her mouth.

"Wait! I'm gonna' have some fun with this one" one of the soldiers exclaimed as he pushed the soldier that had gagged the woman away from her making him stumble over some debris.

"I caught her! She's mine you little cunt!" the other U.N. soldier roared furiously as he stood up and threw himself on his comrade, landing a few punches and kicks as they toppled onto the ground next to the bewildered woman.

'If they keep this up, this might not be as problematic as I originally thought' he mused as he analyzed the armed men across the street of his building.

There were five armed soldiers in total, two of those were fighting over the bound woman, and the other three were cheering them on from the sidelines; they all had similar Kevlar armor on, this included a vest, shoulder pads, thigh protectors and a helmet, meaning there were few actual kill shots he could consider.

'I need to make sure they all go down before they can retaliate, but how?' he questioned himself as he looked through the scope again.

'Perhaps a flash bang would do the trick, I could easily pick them off one by one then' he assured himself internally as he reached for his tactical equipment and opened the window panel he'd been peering through.

He pulled the pin of the flash grenade and counted two full seconds before throwing it across the street, as expected it took around three seconds to arc across and detonate right on top of the two brawling men leaving them disoriented and blinded along with everyone else present around that area.

Bringing his M16's scope to his right eye, he took a deep breath and unleashed a steady volley of bullets at the soldiers, heavily controlled three round bursts that managed to mortally impact two of the three soldiers standing in the back; one was pierced by a bullet in his esophagus while the other had the back of his head blown into the inside of his helmet as the bullet impacted his right cheekbone.

The other soldier in the back had received a wound on his left arm and taken several shots to the Kevlar vest he wore, consequently he was just knocked back and injured.

He continued the relentless barrage at the soldiers, this time aiming at the two who were previously brawling over the woman, and within the first two bursts of fire from his precision rifle; both soldiers found themselves sprawled over the street as a puddle of blood gradually grew around them.

Taking aim at the injured soldier, he made sure to shoot his other arm before holstering his M16 and walking down the stairs of the building, out onto the street and over to the massacre of U.N. troops lying about.

"I must say, I really didn't expect to find U.N. soldiers here" the young man said with a grin as he neared the injured soldier and his prisoners.

"You'll pay for this you little shit!" the injured soldier spat out as he struggled to sit up.

"I would stay down if I were you" the young man said as he walked over to the soldier and kicked his gun away before kneeling by his side and thoroughly searching him, taking any ammunition he could find in the process.

"Well looks like you're clean" he said evenly as he stood up and headed towards the prisoners, leaving the wounded soldier lying on the ground and shouting obscenities at him.

He first made his way towards the bound woman, observing her intently as he got closer; his eyes looked over her brown silky hair that went over her left shoulder, her two glowing ambers for irises that had terror embedded inside them, the finely chiseled face that was sadly covered in bruises, and lastly, her small reddened lips that oozed a trail of blood that went down her neck and to her cleavage, which was covered by a torn up white shirt that included a stain of blood over her chest.

He remained mute as he kneeled in front of her, pulled out his knife and cut her restraints; he simply gave her a nod and then proceeded to liberate the remaining prisoners, which much like the woman, stared wide eyed at the sudden bloodshed they'd just witnessed.

Once he was done, all but one of the small group of newly emancipated slaves kept a motionless gaze on him with uneasiness patent across their facial expressions, not knowing who this man was and what was to become of them, however; one man's stare was different, it was that of gratefulness.

The man gave him a obliged nod before he cocked his scarred head towards the side and gave the soldier who'd come minutes away from executing him a deep glare.

Turning towards the other members of the group that faced him, he sighted and then said impatiently "how about a 'thank you', for starters".

"Thank you" several of them replied instantly, anxiety making itself present in their shaky voices.

"Behind me is one of the men that was going to execute you" he said as he turned around and gave the soldier a wink "he's all yours, but first I need some answers" he stated as he gestured them to talk.

"What do you want to know?" the woman with amber eyes asked him worriedly.

"Who are you people and why were you about to be executed?" he asked nonchalantly as he pulled out his M16's cartridge and began to refill it.

"We were slave laborers at one of the many camp sites near Tokyo 2" the woman spoke out for the whole group and they nodded in approval.

"Slave laborers eh? Why am I even surprised?" he said in repugnance as he continued loading the bullets into the cartridge.

"Yes, there were over sixty of us when we broke out but.." the woman trailed off "we are all that's left".

"Well, looks like you finally caught a break" the young man alleged as he brought up his gaze from the magazine to the group of people around him.

"And who are you mister?" the woman questioned intrigued of her saviors name.

"Does it matter?" he inquired as he stood up and loaded his fully stocked magazine into his rifle.

"I guess not" she said apathetically as she picked up one of the soldiers rifles and gave him a bowing thank you.

"Well then, try not to get killed" he voiced his goodbyes as he began to walk away from the group of people.

"Wait! Where are you going?" the woman asked as she caught up to him and matched his pace.

"Not your concern" he responded casually and continued walking along the road.

"But we have no food, no supplies, no map, what are we supposed to do?!" she exclaimed at him and stopped.

He gave her one glance and continued treading along the road, however; a few steps later after his conscience had gotten the best of him he slumped his shoulders as he came to a halt and turned to face the woman.

"I'll give you some of my food, but I don't have an extra map, and as for supplies" he stopped and gestured around to the city that surrounded them "there ought to be something good in one of these houses" he stated as he drew out several canned goods from his backpack.

"What if the U.N. soldiers come back?" she asked worriedly.

"You kill them" he avowed as he pointed towards the rifle she currently bore arms to.

She looked down to observe the weapon she currently possessed, a strange sensation of power and secureness was granted by holding it, and at the same time, so was repulsion for the fact that the item was used to kill humans, to end one's life.

He quietly gazed at her, the embodiment of pure innocence, if the time came to, she wouldn't pull the trigger; he'd seen these kind of people before and in a way, she reminded him of himself back when he was naïve.

"You've never killed someone, have you?" he asked as he placed the cans neatly on the ground beside him and walked over to her.

"It's just, what right do I have to end a life?" she questioned the morality behind the question while her eyes kept observing the weapon.

"You know, this world isn't too kind on innocence" he answered her and used his hand to bring her gaze back up.

"Whether you like it or not, it always ends up coming down to being either you.." he hesitated "or them" he indicated as he stared off into the direction of the previous bloodbath one block back from their position and was met with an uneventful silence.

"Thank you" she whispered after a few seconds, and hugged him.

'Strange, perhaps mother was right' he silently thought as he stood idle in between her arms.

"I have to go" he grunted seconds later and pried himself loose from her embrace, it was better not to grow too attached to anyone; with one more look at her, he could tell, she wouldn't make it.

"Remember what I sai-" he began to say before several shots thundered behind them in the direction of where they'd left the group.

"Shit! Get down!" he ordered her as he pulled her towards a nearby building.

"What's going on!?" she asked frightened as she staggered behind him into the insides of an old store.

"Be quiet!" he hissed at her whilst giving her a glare and bringing his M16 forward; checking the safety and mag before slowly making his way towards the other end of the store.

'Could it be more U.N. soldiers? Maybe so; I better avoid any direct confrontation' he made a mental note as he reached the store's alternate exit.

"Stay close" he whispered to the woman beside him as he opened the door that led to the alleyway behind the building; the gunshots continued resonating at high intensity and seemed to be getting closer.

The young woman nodded and followed the young man promptly as they came out onto the one way path.

"We're getting out of here" he whispered back to her as he carefully scouted both directions of the alleyway.

"What about the others?" she asked in a hushed but frantic tone, tears slowly filling the whites of her eyes.

'She's going to slow me down' he thought as he gave her a side glance and began to walk forward completely ignoring her question.

"Hey I'm not goin-" she was cut off again in the middle of her sentence as a few projectiles swooshed past her at a tremendous speed and were followed almost immediately by the sound of gunfire.

"Back inside!" he yelled as he pushed her inside the building and rolled towards the other side of the alleyway.

Bringing his rifle up to scope, he withheld his breath and observed the far end of the one way street; coming into view was the man with the scar running along his face as several U.N. soldiers opened fire in his direction and therefore, his own as well.

The man zig-zagged around the enclosed space the alley offered and even managed spray a few bullets at the soldier's general direction before taking cover behind a dumpster and proceeding to reload the side arm he held firmly.

"Covering fire!" the young blue eyed man barked at the man currently taking refugee behind the dumpster as he pressed his rifle's trigger and let the newly fed bullets on the cartridge fly out and impact several of the soldiers nearing him.

The man understood impeccably and spout himself from the dumpster he cowered behind; sprinting as fast as he could down the small passage as the young man in a duster coat proceeded to keep the soldiers busy.

The exchange of fire went on for a few more seconds before the scarred man reached him near the store's alternate exit and took cover behind a brick column across from him.

"That's been twice in one day kid, thanks" the man stated as gave him a nod and pulled out from his cover to fire at the soldiers.

"Don't make a habit of it" the young man replied as he ran across the alley towards the store he'd just exited from.

"Yeah, it's not like I asked for those assholes to show up again" he retorted as he backed himself into cover again.

"Well, we need to get the fuck out of this city" the young blue eyed man noted as he reached the door frame and gestured the man to follow him.

"No kidding" the scarred man let out as he joined him inside the store.

"You're alive!" the woman that had hidden inside the store shrieked as she ran over to hug the older looking man.

"Yeah, wonderboy here saved my ass, again that is" he playfully mocked as he presented him another appreciative nod.

'Hmm, that sounds strangely familiar' he beheld for a quick second before focusing back on the task at hand.

"Can you take care of her?" the young man inquired as he changed the magazine in his rifle and gave the woman a brief glance.

"Always have" the scarred man replied as he took the rifle from the woman's hands and gave her a smile.

"What about the others?" the woman asked the scarred man worriedly.

The scarred man gave her an apologetic look and lowered his gaze before proceeding to shake his head slowly.

"I'm sorry" the man whimpered as he brought his eyes back to look at her.

"Don't be" the young blue eyed man let out and handed him a few rounds for his rifle.

"Now, I don't know about you two, but I'm not looking for an early sent off" he stated as he cocked his rifle "so, what's it going to be?!" he inquired his forced allies with a shout.

"Us?!" he yelled interrogatively "or them!" he roared viciously.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> I'll let the first few chapter be somewhat short, they're supposed to show the overall tone and setting of the story.

I want to thank **ChaddyManPrime** for proof reading this chapter and for giving me some very remarkable suggestions, like the semicolon; I honestly never knew what it was used for until now.

As always, I appreciate any review and thank you for reading.

Yours truly,

JCM


	3. Chapter 3

[Approximately 2 weeks ago, Outlands]

They were still halfway from The Pan to Matsushiro and the drive had been uneventful for the most part. Rika and Nao both sat in silence as each occupied themselves with something to do meanwhile; Grey continued on with his read, an occidental book made up of various poems, which overall seemed rather oxymoronic to the blue eyed man.

Of course to the young, blue eyed man's misfortune, the welcoming silence in the truck's cabin wouldn't last forever; soon it found itself crippled and then completely shattered by the squad's demolition expert, and also known pyromaniac.

"So, what's so important that you're coming with us?" Nao curiously inquired from the back seat of the truck.

"Yeah, you're not one to tag along on these kinds of jobs" added Rika as she continued sharpening her favorite combat knife.

"This one is different" the blue eyed man in the driver's seat answered.

"I don't see how. All we have to do is recover that thing, right?" Rika asked oblivious to the importance of the device.

"Not as easy as it sounds" the blue eyed man replied.

"The kid's right, and that 'thing' is very important!" the older man in the passenger's seat reprimanded as he put down his book.

"Well, as long as we get paid I don't care" Nao said as he leaned back a closed his eyes.

"Yeah, same here" Rika agreed before returning to sharpening the knife in her hand.

"Don't worry, you'll get paid" the blue eyed man eased them and rolled his eyes.

"This isn't about the compensation" the older man chipped in, consequently getting a soft chuckle from the two passengers in the back seat.

"Then what is it about old man?" the blue eyed man asked intrigued by the statement.

"Hope" he replied.

* * *

><p>[Present time, residential sector of Yoshikawa]<p>

The blue eyed man in a duster stood firmly behind the wall, both his hands holding tight to his M16 as the soldiers neared him.

Sweat formed atop his brow as he prepared for the small ambush they'd set up for the soldiers; if all went according to plan, they could be looking at around thirty confirmed kills.

Normally he wouldn't mind taking out so many enemies, however; he recognized the SPF would soon find out who took out one of their mobile squadrons and place a bounty on his head.

'I shouldn't have intervened' he grimaced as he considered the fact that he'd have to watch his back from now on, more than usual that is.

The soldiers' footsteps were growing louder; they were almost to the kill zone he'd labeled in-between the narrow street after he'd moved from the store with his new companions.

He stood silently behind the wall of a second story room, a couple's room if he had to guess; there where family pictures scattered around the floor, clothes lying around everywhere, and the most disturbing of all, a trail of parched up blood that led to another room.

Perhaps if the time had allowed it, he would've scarred his outlandish mind a tad more, however; the soldiers got closer each second, and he was getting quite tired of the cat and mouse games.

He waited a few seconds more, and then he was certain, this was it, it had to be now or never. He took a deep breath and pulled out his detonator, grasping the handle with ease before deciding to crumple his hand into a fist around it, and setting loose the trap he'd so carefully prepared.

The blast coming from the street made him stumble around for a second before he brought himself up and about, and aimed his rifle out the window.

There was a dense amount of smoke and dust covering the street, but he could see them still; the majority of the soldiers were squirming around trying to get their bearings while the others were just shredded pieces of meat scattered across the road.

"Fire!" he yelled out with wrath as he pressed the trigger.

Across the street from him the scarred man obliged and pulled from his cover to massacre the remaining soldiers; it was an onslaught and neither seized fire, not even when the soldiers stood in a surrendering pose.

The event reminded the blue eyed man of the true animalistic nature of humans, survival at any cost, this was either him, or them; people often said the world couldn't be viewed in black and white, they were right, but things seemed much easier when dealing in absolutes.

Finally the last soldier stopped his squirming as his torso became the final resting places for several bullets; it was finally over, this encounter at least.

The woman of course had refused to watch, she had crawled up to a corner and covered her hears; he still considered her weak, that kind of pure nature would end up killing her, or worse, him.

The young man made his way downstairs, out the building, and into the street where blood ran from end to end.

"You shouldn't have fucked with me" he whispered at the corpses as he made his way towards the building in front of him.

"That was some impressive shooting kid" the scarred man greeted him as he entered.

"Well, one of us had to kill them" the young man shrugged as he placed his pack on the floor of the building.

"Cocky bastard" the scarred man let out as he walked over to the woman.

"Hey!" the young man called out to the man walking away.

"What is it?" the scarred man asked and turned around.

"You don't want to go where I'm headed, for her sake" held the young man after an exhale.

"Listen here!" the scarred man spoke loudly "you just worry about yourself, I'll take care of her!" he finished saying with a raised voice.

"Alright then, it's on you" the young man said as he stood up and walked out to the street again to gather ammunitions and supplies.

"Your funeral" he mumbled once he was out of ear shot.

* * *

><p>[Approximately 2 weeks ago, outskirts of Matsushiro]<p>

They arrived at Matsushiro sooner than expected; it was somewhere around midnight when they reached the deserted ruins of the once secondary base of operations of Nerv, and what a sight it truly was.

Beside the enormous crater, where once stood a few of the major mountains that surrounded the city, lay part of the base they were to infiltrate; a structure that appeared to be in the primal stages of a collapse, frankly, time was not abundant.

Taking note of that, the young, blue eyed man pulled the car over to a small house in the outskirts of the city; he promptly woke up his sleeping passengers and exited the vehicle to enter the house.

Upon assigning night watches and thoroughly scavenging, he retired to a small bedroom on the far end of the small house he'd taken refuge in.

Lying back on the comfortable mattress he'd found in the room, he pulled the totem he wore around his neck into view; it was one of the small monuments embedded to him for his sins, his past, his demons, or at least that's what he deemed the metal plated cross.

At times he thought deeply about the day he got exiled, about what Misato had told him and his final words to Asuka, but hell, he was better off now anyways.

It wasn't like life at the settlement was going great either way; nobody spoke to him and most went out of their way to avoid him, even Asuka; that hurt.

'I best concentrate on resting for now' he immediately voiced internally as he blocked his mind from pressing the matter much longer.

He placed the totem back under the thin fabric of his black shirt and closed his eyes tight; the only sounds were coming from outside as the winds whistled by the tall, dead, skeletal pinecones that engulfed the area, and his fellow comrades that held a conversation in the living room.

In a matter of minutes he finally achieved the state of slumber he longed for; his muscles relaxed and his breathing became lighter, and somewhere along the line he felt the bliss of being nothingness.

* * *

><p>[Present time, residential sector of Yoshikawa]<p>

"Are you sure?" the young, blue eyed man asked the scarred man dubiously as he stared intently at the distance.

"Yup, we found no working cars" the scarred man assured with a frown and pointed back towards the street he'd just come from with the woman.

"Looks like we're walking then" the young man responded after a sigh and began to move forward.

"Yeah" the older of the two replied with a similar reaction.

"It could be worse" the woman who stood in between them added with a smile.

"It will be" the young man countered.

"How do you know?" the woman asked mockingly.

"Gut feeling" the young man answered.

Of course he lied; he knew perfectly well why but, for the sake of her clear mind, he didn't say why.

"What do you think Mo'dare?" the woman asked, clearly referring to the scared man.

"I don't know, after all the shit we've been through" Mo'dare hesitated "at some point it's got to get better" he finished and pulled up his arm to give her shoulder a squeeze.

'What fools' the younger man thought out as he gave each a side glance.

"There's always hope" the woman responded happily and took the scarred man's hand.

"Not for some of us there isn't" the young man said under a breath and picked up the pace he was walking at, earning a few meters of distance between the two strangers and himself.

* * *

><p>[Approximately 2 weeks ago, Nerv's secondary base of operations in Matsushiro]<p>

Walking up to the crumbling building he felt a chill run down his spine and this was immediately followed by the distant memory of unit-01 ripping apart unit-03; the unit's tight hold on its neck until the horrifying sound of bone crunching filled the LCL packed entry plug.

'This is where he entered the Eva' he thought silently as he inspected the place further and frowned.

"You ok kid?" grey asked concerned and put a hand on his shoulder.

Returning from his thoughts he simply gave the older man a nod and walked over to the car's trunk; taking out an M16-Carbine and other supplies from the stash on the trunk, he quickly called his companions over to do the same.

"Get your weapons, gear, and emergency kits" he shouted over to them as he stepped to the buildings entrance.

"You got it boss" called out Rika playfully as she gathered all her gear together.

"Sure thing, 'boss'" snickered Nao at his companion's suck up before eventually heading over to the trunk and taking out his equipment.

"Shut up!" Rika fused at him as she gave him a glare.

"Yeah, well why don-" Nao began to scowl but was cut off by the young man standing near the entrance.

"Hurry up!" the blue eyed man yelled out, irritation clearly present in his voice.

Noting the man's clear discontent for their bickering, Nao and Rika finished prepping up and eventually joined the two men standing by the entrance.

Upon their arrival the young man gave each a glare before pulling out the facility's map and re-briefing them on their respective search areas and tasks.

The rundown facility seemed to pierce at least half a kilometer underground and for the most part seemed whole, however, this didn't mean that the entire base was accessible; the plight of stairs that they needed to reach the deepest levels where inaccessible, or better yet, nonexistent as the aftermath from unit-03's failed experiment caused it to collapse.

This complicated things, not much, but it did set them back a few hours as they had to thoroughly inspect for another way in; if it all came to worse though, they'd just make an entrance with some of the C4 from the cache of weapons the bandits had so 'happily' offered.

After the briefing the squad of four, they took in two separate groups, as always Grey took Nao under his wing and set of for the seventh sub-level of the facility, meanwhile; Rika followed the young man to scavenge the first sub-levels, a task that made her whine and protest.

"I don't understand! Why are we looking for crap here!?" she queried annoyingly as she searched the various rooms he'd asked her to.

Sighting he looked over to her in the distance and responded "First rule of the ou-" only to be cut off by her.

"Always scavenge, blah, blah, blah" she mimicked abruptly and gave him a frown.

"There could always b-" he began to say but was cut off yet again.

"Yeah, yeah. Something useful" she said again in a poor attempt to impersonate his voice.

He rolled his eyes at her, quite, irritating behavior and continued his search for a few more minutes until he felt a couple of arms embrace his waist.

"We've got work to do" he said softly to her.

"Aww come on, it's been a while" Rika pouted as she spun him around and began taking off her gear.

"That was a one time thing" he replied to her distantly and began to pull away from her embrace before in a sudden move, her head jolted forward and planted a kiss on his lips.

Not participating much, he eventually pulled out of something he can only describe as having his lips sucked and licked by another woman, an event that made the woman glare at him with hurt eyes before continuing the effort.

"Just for once" she began to say in between kisses "don't think about anything" she pleaded "pretend we're trapped in that cellar again" she finished and stared deep into his eyes.

He gave her an acknowledging look and obliged by returning her kiss; the carnal desires priming over his actual will, he quickly found himself fondling her breasts through the thick, laced fabric of her sweater.

Parting lips, Rika's moans filled the darkened sub-level of the complex, high pitch squeals that demonstrated her pleasure from being groped by him.

She firmly grasped at his manhood through his jeans, eagerly caressing the growing shape of her tool for orgasms as he let out a few groans and began to undress her.

The young man began with the sweater that prevented him from seeing the fleshy mounds that took part in his deepest fantasies, followed by the tight jeans she often wore to her missions.

After getting her down to her bare skin save for her panties, she hurriedly pushed him down to the filth covered floor and straddled his lap whilst she helped him out of his duster and shirt.

He shivered a tad at the cold contact from his back and the floor however; once she unzipped his jeans, pulled down his briefs and began to massage his manhood with her tongue, all uncomfortable feelings from the floor he lay at passed.

He groaned and squirmed around as the strokes and suction noises began to increment in pace, slowly feeling himself buildup to the point where his shaft felt rock solid inside the warmth of her mouth.

At this point he raised his torso to look at her, took the back of her head in hand, and began to push her down further after each stroke, putting more length of his limb deep inside her esophagus and making her gag in the process.

"Yeah.." he grunted heavily as she continued her unsullied attack on his extremity and maintained eye contact.

Feeling himself at the brink he quickly pushed her head down to the bottom of his shaft and gasped with all his breath "I'm coming!" before shooting a load down Rika's throat.

She did her best to swallow the contents spewed inside her but there was simply too much so; she eventually gagged out the rest and gave him an apologetic look as she laid her back on the floor and slid off her panties.

"Whenever you're ready" Rika said seductively as she began to slide her fingers between her pinkish, soaked lips.

Feeling himself get erect at the sight before him, he crawled over to her and began to eat away at her slit.

It was Rika's turn to twist and wail as his tongue flicked and massaged her nether regions, coating her opening in saliva as he slid his tongue back and forth.

She began to buck her hips wildly and ran her fingers through his hair as he buried two fingers deep inside her warm muff.

The young man continued his nurtures on her lower lips until eventually; she began heaving and pulled him closer as her legs clamped around his head and her orgasm hit.

Wave after wave of pleasure passed through her and she exhaled deeply as she released his head from between her legs and he pulled out his fingers from her quivering snatch.

"That.." she said through pants "was amazing.." she finished as she laid her head back down to the filth covered ground and continued gasping heavily.

"Yeah, but we're not done yet" the man stated with a sly grin.

"Oh yeah?" she asked "think you can handle another round big boy?" she mocked and smiled as she sat up and took hold of his stiffened rod.

The feeling created from the friction she was creating made him groan a tad as he asked "can you?"

"Hmm" she hummed devilishly "I guess we'll see" she replied and pushed him onto his back as she crawled up to him.

She set her entrance centimeters away from his manhood and took a deep breath before she impaled herself with his appendage.

A loud shriek filled the room, and possibly the facility, as she felt her insides fill with ecstasy and continued the riding motion she was accustomed to.

In the midst of their joining session, grunts, and loud moans, the young man's walkie talkie buzzed and came to life.

"Boss we got a problem here. Over" Nao droned through the speakers.

"Ah shit" he said disheartened at the sudden distraction from the exhilarating activity.

"Ooouuu" she pouted and began to sway in a circular motion around his rod "just ignore him" she finished and began panting.

He groaned and began to find himself following her wishes but, ultimately he retracted and picked up the walkie talkie as he made her a gesture to stop.

"What is it Nao? Over" he asked as he regained his breath.

"We found something, you need to see this. Over" the man on the other end replied sounding worried.

"Alright we're coming down to your level. Over" the young man answered as he threw the talkie next to his gear, pulled the woman off of him and began to put his clothes back on.

"Well that was lame" Rika added to the silence between them as she dressed herself.

"You knew we couldn't anyways" the man retorted as he finished placing his duster and pack on.

"Whatever" she said hoarsely, picked up her gear, and made her way towards the seventh sub-level.

He sighed behind her and followed suit after locating his flashlight and weapon.

* * *

><p>[Present time, Outlands]<p>

They'd been walking for hours over the red dunes and the sun was now peeking its last rays over the horizon as the ambient around the three started becoming frostier and dimmer.

"We'll camp here for the night" the young man told the two people following closely behind him as he shifted off his pack and placed it on the ground to get the materials for their temporary heat source.

"Sounds good to me" let out Mo'dare as he took off his pack and proceeded to sit by the growing pile of paper and coal rocks the young man was placing.

"Yeah I'm beat" the woman said croakily as she too took a seat next to the soon to be fire.

The young man smirked at her avowal and brought out his lighter to set flame to the stack of papers underneath the carbon; the flame lit up a radius of a few meters and instantly caressed their skins with a toasty sensation.

"Let's eat" he broke the growing silence between them as he pulled out a canned good from his pack and gestured them to do the same.

Each member around the fire took out a can from their own rations and placed it over the fire, waited a few moments for it to warm up, and wolfed down the contents in a matter of seconds.

'Fucking canned food' the young man thought out as he finished swallowing the crude nourishment.

Mo'dare was staring up at the sky intently, in his whole pre-impact life he'd never taken notice of the stars, hell; he hadn't even done that post-impact.

"There's so many" he said softly and pointed up at the sky as he continued to explore the visible cosmos.

"Yeah" the woman sitting next to him replied with awe as well.

The young man didn't need to be reminded of the vastness of the cosmos above him, he went to sleep most nights staring at it, still; he enjoyed the time he spent watching it his crew whenever they were on the road.

'I'm going to find out the truth, whatever it takes' he thought coldly and stiffened his gaze on the stars above him.

The woman sitting beside Mo'dare noted the young, blue eyed man's sudden change in expression and asked "why Tokyo-3?"

He gave her a side glance and returned to viewing the stars before replying "the return of the prodigal son".

"What do you mean?" she asked with confusion and followed up with "did you live there or something?"

"Yeah" he spoke out returning her stare and then looked at the scarred man.

Somehow, he felt as if they were thinking the same thing, her safety. It was a strange for him to care about someone other than his crew, but she really was clueless and he'd been given a hand when he was like that too.

If it wasn't for Grey, he would've gotten killed, or worse. They say the men that caught him were known rapists and sadists, not much different than any other group of bandits, still; it was Grey that rescued him and released his true human survival instinct.

Staring at the woman, he could still see the innocence in her look, it's people like her that should've been the only to emerge from the sea of LCL; not him.

Sighting he turned from her gaze and said "I'm turning it off" as he pulled out a bottle of LCL and spewed its liquid filler onto the blazing coals, who made a sizzling sound as they died down.

"Why'd you do that!?" both the scarred man and the young woman complained in unison.

"We don't want to attract bandits or U.N. troops" he simply remarked and pulled out his cover to go to sleep.

"Now stop complaining and go to sleep" the young man admonished as he set himself comfortable in his spot.

"G'night" the young woman said lightly to both men as she pulled out her cover, made herself comfy and closed her eyes.

"Good night Tera" Mo'dare said as he did as everyone else.

'Goodnight' the young man said in his mind as he drifted off.

* * *

><p>[Approximately 2 weeks ago, Nerv's secondary base of operations in Matsushiro]<p>

"Shit, this isn't good!" Nao said frantically as he paced back and forth.

"What were the U.N.S. elite doing here?" Rika asked sounding just as worried.

"They must've been looking for the same device" the young man stated scornfully.

"But that still doesn't explain why there are several of the U.N.S's elite shot dead" grey added as he passed his flashlight over a dead body and inspected it.

"It's not the dead ones I'm worried about" the young man grimaced and turned to Grey who had finished examining the body.

"How long do you think they've been here?" the young man asked his old friend.

"Hard to say" he began as he scratched his head "less than three days definitely given the lack of stench" he ended and glanced back at the bodies.

"Wait a minute!" Rika shouted from across the room "some of these are wearing civil!"

The young man's eyes suddenly narrowed and he entered a deep thinking state.

'We've got various Elite dead, several civils dead, and nobody to tell us what happened' he repeated what little he'd gathered from the aftermath.

'All have bullet wounds inflicted on them, but most of the Elite's weapons are fully stocked' he stated trying to make a bridge between the two.

'They must've been attacked when not expecting it, perhaps an inside job' he considered as he reviewed the events in his head.

'The U.N.S. must've been searching for something rather important for the Elite's to be there, and as for the civils, they were probably lab techs to analyze the device but; they hadn't entered yet, so they must've been looking for a way to the deepest levels, just like we were' he brooded over deeply as he replayed the scenario over and over.

'But if someone amidst them betrayed them, then who was it? And why?' he wondered profoundly.

"This was an inside job" the young man said confoundedly as he gave his old friend a worrying look.

"I don't like this" Grey said almost annoyingly as he returned his gaze at the bodies.

"Same here, we best leave" the young man spoke out and began to head for the stairs.

"We're leaving?" Rika protested almost immediately as the young man reached the stair case that led to the upper levels.

"Yes, we don't know what we're dealing with here" the young man responded as he began to head up the stairs.

"But what about the thing?! What about the pay?!" she argued frustratingly at him.

"We have no choice!" he barked back at her "look around you! What do you think will happen if more elite's show up and find us here?! They'll kill us in sight!" he reminded her and continued his climb.

"We've got a job to do!" Rika retorted and grabbed for his arm.

"We'll think of something Rika, please just listen to me" he said lowly to prevent the others from hearing.

"I'm tired of listening to you! All you do is order us around!" she exclaimed at him and let go of his arm.

"I'm just trying to keep you all alive! Grey back me up here" he told his former mentor.

"I know kid but, I'd rather not let the device fall into the wrong hands" Grey replied and gave him a repentant look.

"What about you Nao? Do you want to stay?" the young man asked and turned to face the pony tailed man.

"It's a lot of money we'd be leaving behind" he stated factually.

The young man placed his palm over his hair and frustratingly combed it back as he let out a snicker.

"You're all idiots" he stated as pulled his hand down from his head and smiled.

"I'll get the C4" he added soon after and began ascending the stair case.

* * *

><p>[Approximately 16 months after Third Impact]<p>

Many things changed in those last six months for them, one of them being the fact that five new settlements had been established, however; in light of those events, a council was made in order for all the settlements to have a voiced opinion on important matters.

Each settlement elected their own council member, a term that lasted for a year and was then submitted to an independent popular voting that would determine reelection or new charge.

Tokyo-3 settlement had become the most renowned of the five; its elected councilor, Katsuragi, helped the conformation of new bound laws, to keep things civil, and the deadly Elite's.

Conformed of mostly hardened soldiers, they were at the top of militia at the moment; their skill clearly surpassed those of the S.P.F, though the S.P.F did have more numbers in their ranks, even if at the time, neither knew of each other's existence.

It was also widely known across the settlements that a particular inhabitant of the Tokyo-3 settlement was former Evangelion pilot, Ikari Shinji.

Despite his essential role in the settlement's rise, many people other than the few remaining members of Nerv cared for him; this was made obvious to him as with time and scarce resources, many of his fellow citizens began to disregard or outright look through him as they considered him the detonator for the world's current state.

With the dispersion of most of Tokyo-3 settlement's experienced bodies, consisting mostly of Nerv ex-employees, to the other settlements, not many people really wished for the boy's continued presence in the settlement.

His former coworker Asuka however, wasn't finding life as difficult. Becoming the embodiment of the settlement's pride, Council member Katsuragi rebuilt her from the ground up when she began to train her to be an Elite. Being the youngest member at the time to enter the academy, she surpassed most of her older cadets at an astonishing speed.

People often saw her as a hero since in the end she fought head to head in a battle where she was completely outnumbered, completely out gunned, but not entirely outclassed.

The elected council woman for the Tokyo-3 settlement looked at her proudly; she was her star pupil, the apple of her eyes.

When the boy first got the news of his exile, he wasn't shocked, he knew it was bound to happen sooner or later, and if he was to be honest; he hadn't felt alive in a long time, he was just a shell.

Strange thing to believe one might say, but the boy continued with that belief for long time during his first year of exile yet; the moment he was captured by bandits and faced a life threatening situation, he realized truly, that he did not want to die, not like that anyways.

* * *

><p>[Approximately 37 months after Third Impact, Market district of The Pan]<p>

As they walked down The Pan, the young man couldn't help but get a bad feeling about this, normally his crew was hired by some of the few nameless and insignificant merchants or collectors, the man they were about to see however, was a whole other level.

Real name unknown to most, he went by the alias of Shadow Merchant and handled his meetings in the upmost secrecy.

Grey's gut was also stirred up, the old man had a tendency for lack of trust which, to be completely fair, served him well in most cases.

"Just let me do the talking Grey" the young man said and received a nod from his partner.

Both men came into view of the door with an 'X' engraved in red paint across it, and entered the alleyway that led them to it. For God knows what reason, the higher up decided to have the meeting near the markets of The Pan, so; rotten food, feces, piss and the chattering of starving people were abundant in the air around them, luckily; both men had grown accustomed to the reek and clatter over the past two years.

They both stepped in front of the recently marked door and glanced at each other reassuringly before the young man reached out his balled up hand, and placed three hard knocks with his knuckles.

A few seconds went by after the hollow, aluminum covered metal frame vibrated from the knock before it was finally opened by a hooded man that immediately frisked them, confiscated their weapons, and eventually gestured for them to enter.

Silently, both men nodded in agreement and entered through the door. A rectangular table stood in the center of the room and sitting on one of the chairs was a very shady looking man smiling at their presence.

His long and, probably died, white hair was tied into a ponytail while his attire, much like his hair, was practically an all-white suit with the exception of the shirt under his coat, which had a light purple tone to it.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you!" the man exclaimed as he stood from his chair and gestured for them to sit.

"I take it you're the Shadow Merchant. Let's just get this over with" the young man stated firmly and took the seat by the table directly across from the man.

"Aha! Straight to the grain!" the Shadow Merchant jolted "I like that, it tells you a lot about a man" he finished and sat back down.

"I'm sure it does, but what's the real reason we're here?" he asked uncaringly and gave the merchant a grim stare.

The Shadow Merchant returned his glare for a few seconds before he burst out laughing hysterically and banged his fists on the table in doing so.

Both Grey and the young, blue eyed man gave the merchant a confound look before turning to each other and raising their shoulders.

Finally, the merchant's fit of laughter came to an abrupt halt as he stood up, pulled out a gun, and slid it across the table.

"You're fucking amazing kid!" the man said with a smile and pointed towards the weapon "take it as a complementary gift for making me laugh".

"You're wasting my time here" the young man replied monotonously and pushed it aside.

"And you're wasting your talent!" the Shadow Merchant retorted loudly "you've been squandering your gifts boy!" the Merchant finished and leaned forward to take the gun.

Both men looked at the white haired man cautiously in case of any sudden moves but were surprised when he cocked the pistol and set it on the table again.

"So this is my offer" he began and pushed the gun towards the young man once more "You can continue with the insignificant chores or, you can do jobs for the big dogs" he finished and smiled again.

"What kind of jobs?" the young man asked enthralled by the offer and picked up the gun.

"Eh, you know" the merchant stated "a little bit of good, little bit of bad, little bit of both".

"Well if the pay is good" the young man paused as he picked up the pistol and inspected it thoroughly "then I like it" he replied and holstered the weapon in the back of his jeans.

"It's one of my favorites too, the five-seven, use it well" the merchant told him and gestured for a man to bring some drinks.

Taking the cups and bottle of rum the man brought him, the merchant served each of the men a cup as well as his own, before raising his glass up for a toast.

"To our newly found partnership!" he toasted and gulped down the drink while the men across from him did the same.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Actually I don't have any notes this time, other this note right here explaining that.

Thanks Chaddyman, you're an awesome pre-reader and (again) thanks for helping me out. Just in case anyone is wondering about my other story.. yeah my dad formatted the fucking computer... :'( so I had to restart writing the chapter again, not entirely from scratch (thank god) but I really did loose my momentum, still, I'm working hard on it.

Hope you enjoy this chapter guys!

JCM


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